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Judas and the Black Messiah
Judas and the Black Messiah

"Judas and the Black Messiah"

directed by Shaka King

(R, 2 hours, 6 minutes)

A remarkably well done major motion picture that, by and large, sticks to the facts (as does Howard Alk's sobering and disturbing 1971 documentary "The Murder of Fred Hampton," which you can watch for free on YouTube) as it tells the true story of revolutionary Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and his relationship with William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield). The film takes place during the late 1960s, against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in Chicago. Hampton, Chairman of the Chicago Black Panther Party, has become an influential and charismatic leader in the Chicago Black community, striving to build a pan-ethnic coalition to mobilize and create social change. So naturally, the FBI identifies him as a national threat and takes measures to neutralize him. Among these measures is the planting of informant O'Neal in his inner circle.

While we shouldn't get our history from Hollywood, there's not much in "Judas and the Black Messiah" that needs correcting.

One thing though: The actors who play the principals, Kaluuya and Stanfield are, at 32 and 29 years old respectively, about a decade too old to play their characters. But casting age-appropriate actors would have distracted audiences, and maybe 50 years ago teenagers seemed older than they do now.

Kaluuya won this year's Best Supporting Actor for his role and Stanfield -- who is actually the film's lead -- was also nominated.

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Based on the bestselling memoir "Guantanamo Diary" by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, charismatically played in the film by Tahar Rahim. With Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Levi, Shailene Woodley; directed by Kevin Macdonald.

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